XI: STRENGTHS SHOULD BE PUT TO GOOD USE

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, emphasized on Monday the importance of making good use of the country's institutional strengths in responding to risks and challenges in an increasingly severe and complicated environment for development.

It is more necessary now to steadfastly deepen reforms, perfect systems of various kinds, improve governance and further transform institutional improvement into administrative efficiency, he said.

Xi, head of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform, made the remarks when presiding over the committee's 13th meeting.

Xi stressed that the fundamental reason that China could effectively advance COVID-19 pandemic prevention work and resume production was because the CPC leadership and China's socialist system played an irreplaceably important role.

Meeting participants said the guarantee of medical supplies is an important basis for curbing the contagion's spread and winning the people's war against the virus, according to a statement released after the meeting.

In the battle against the outbreak, departments have coordinated with each other, adopted measures together, organized enterprises to quickly resume work and production and expanded their production capacity and output, it said. Medical supplies for priority areas have been guaranteed through the country's unified deployment and transported through fast-track means.

The meeting urged greater efforts to strengthen top-level design, improve coordination among departments and build material supply systems for medical prevention and treatment, material reserves and mobilization of production capacity.

The variety, scale and structure of emergency material reserves should be improved, and innovation should ensure that crucial supplies can be deployed and used at critical moments, it said.

Meeting participants stressed the need for good management of the medical insurance fund, which enables people to see doctors and preserve their health.

During the country's battle against COVID-19, ministries including the National Healthcare Security Administration and the Ministry of Finance introduced policies in a timely way to ensure that the treatment of novel coronavirus patients was not affected because of medical cost problems. This reflected the superiority of China's socialist system, they said.

The meeting required consistent efforts to build a prevention and control mechanism for medical insurance fund safety, safeguard social equality and justice, and promote the sound and sustainable development of the medical insurance system.

While progress has been made in the country's reform of scientific and technological systems, meeting participants said that the implementation of reform tasks in this field is still unbalanced and inappropriate.

They pointed out that some major reforms are not advancing fast enough, coordination is insufficient regarding reforms in related areas and some deep-rooted institutional barriers have not been removed fundamentally.

According to the meeting, institutional improvements are required in order to strengthen scientific and technological innovation as well as the capacity to respond to emergencies and changes.

Efforts should be beefed up to build a new type of all-of-government and all-of-society system for tackling difficulties in developing core and key technologies, it said.

While the country should be prepared for worst-case scenarios, the meeting also required concentrated efforts to advance reform measures that help to promote production resumption, employment, investment and consumption, the development of medium and small-sized enterprises, basic livelihood and poverty alleviation.

Several documents were reviewed and approved at the meeting, including a guideline on reforms of the Growth Enterprises Market board, an overall plan for ecological system conservation and a guideline on enhancing physical exercise for teenagers' healthy development.

BEIJING WARNS ON USE OF 'CHINA CARD' IN US VOTE

Beijing opposes the efforts of some individuals in the United States to drag China into the US elections and play the China card to gain votes, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday.

Geng made the remark at a news conference after a recently disclosed memo advised US Republican candidates to address the coronavirus crisis by attacking China.

The 57-page memo stresses three main lines of assault: That China caused the virus "by covering it up", that Democrats are "soft on China", and that Republicans will "push for sanctions on China for its role in spreading this pandemic", the Politico reported.

The memo shows that Republicans are also eager to make China an issue in down-ballot races, it said.

The report shows clearly why some political forces in the US make every attempt to use the pandemic to smear and attack China, Geng said, adding that China firmly opposes such moves as well as their attempts to harm China's interests.

The US repeatedly claims that China spreads disinformation, he said, adding that "if the report is true, I have to wonder who on earth is spreading false information?"

Apart from the memo, there are increasing doubts in US society over Washington's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

US media, think tanks and experts have raised doubts on whether the government has hidden something and why it is hurriedly shifting blame to others.

"We hope the US government will respond in a timely way to concerns from US people and the international community," he said.

Noting that Chinese and US people are victims of the pandemic, he said that only through solidarity and collaboration can the international community triumph over the disease.

China hopes the US will take effective measures to safeguard the security and health of its nationals in an open, transparent and responsible way, he said.

He added that China also hopes the US will work with the international community in jointly maintaining global public health security.

6 REGIONS IN CHINA LIFT MINIMUM WAGES ABOVE 2,000 YUAN

Six provincial-level regions in China have lifted their minimum monthly wages above 2,000 yuan ($282.43) as of late March, according to data published by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Securities on Sunday, Economic Daily reported.

Shanghai topped the other five regions with a minimum monthly wage of 2,480 yuan, followed by Beijing, Guangdong, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In terms of hourly minimum wages, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong have lifted their bars above 20 yuan with Beijing on top, setting the bottom rate at 24 yuan per hour, nearly twice as the minimum wage of 12.5 yuan in Hunan province.

The minimum wage rate is set in associated with local social and economic development, which comprehensively refers to per-capita expenditures for food, Engel coefficient, consumer price index, average wage for on-post staff and other criteria.

The rise in minimum wages will raise the incomes of workers, in particular those with low incomes. Unemployment insurance benefits, sick pay and basic allowance will increase in line with minimum wage.

Experts said the lift in minimum wage is in favor of a stable job market and helps ensure low income populations enjoy the fruits of development and will benefit workers in safeguarding their legal interests. But it is also subject to other factors, such as job creation and burden unloading for enterprises.

CITIES LOOK AT LONGER WEEKENDS TO BOOST CONSUMPTION AND TOURISM

Many regions and cities across China have declared a"2.5-day-a-week" vacation system to boost consumption and tourism now that the novel coronavirus outbreak has been largely controlled in the country.

Since March, Hebei, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, Longnan in Gansu province and Lichuan in Hubei province have launched the 2.5-day-a-week vacation system, providing residents a longer weekend to spend with their families.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, had proposed a "4.5-day flexible working system" as early as August 2015 to promote tourism. But in many regions that became a reality only recently, when the authorities began promoting consumption and tourism, which dropped drastically because of the strict epidemic prevention and control measures.

Tourism and transportation industries, particularly the aviation industry, have suffered heavily because of the suspension of business in the past three months.

The National Bureau of Statistics' data show the country's total retail sales of consumer goods declined 19 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020.

As the epidemic situation has largely been controlled now, on-the-spot consumption and tourism activity is recovering gradually. Many regions are looking at the Labor Day holiday to increase consumption.

They are also keen on promoting a 4.5-day-a-week flexible working system to allow people time to undertake short-distance self-driving trips to boost the retail and hospitality sectors. Unlike long-distance public transport trips, short-distance self-driving trips reduce infection risk.

However, many feel the well-intentioned policy will be difficult to implement in enterprises that cannot even guarantee two-day weekends. The impact of the pandemic on the economy will also make it difficult for some enterprises to sanction longer weekends.

It might be easier to introduce extended weekends in government and institutions, but some fear that reduced working hours for government agencies will inconvenience the public. Therefore, this good-intentioned policy's future boils down to effective implementation.

MORE THAN 900M CHINESE ONLINE

The number of Chinese using the internet exceeded 900 million as of March, with about 710 million online consumers and more than 400 million using it for educational purposes, a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center said on Tuesday.

The internet users across the country totaled 904 million by the end of March, up 75.08 million compared with 2018, and the internet availability rate reached 64.5 percent, according to the report.

Of the total, 710 million people shopped online, up 16.4 percent compared with 2018, and they bought goods worth about 10.63 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) in 2019, it said, adding that online consumption as a major part of digital economy has played a dynamic role in promoting the consumption sector.

Meanwhile, the number of people using the internet for educational purposesreached 423 million as of March, up more than 110 percent compared with 2018. The industry’s explosive growth has met greater demand of students during the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia, it said.

In addition, online entertainment applications have also seen a rapid development due to the epidemic, with 850 million online video users and 635 million listening to music in cyberspace, it added.

NATION SEES 1ST CRIMINAL VERDICT FOR POLLUTION HARMFUL TO OZONE

A local court in Zhejiang province has handed down the country's first criminal verdict on cases related to pollution from ozone-depleting substances, commonly known as ODS, sentencing a factory runner 10 months in jail.

The person, who is only disclosed as Qi, the legal representative of Minghe Thermal Insulation Material Co in Huzhou city, Zhejiang, received a sentence for the illegal purchase and consumption of 849.5 metric tons of CFC-11, a type of ODS, in the company's production in the past three years.

The ozone layer helps shield the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

While fining Qi 50,000 yuan ($7,060), the Deqing county people's court also charged the company 700,000 yuan and confiscated the company's illegal gain of over 1.4 million yuan, according to a media release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The case was unearthed in a two-month campaign the ministry launched in 2019 to rule out illegal ODS production and consumption. Other people from Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu provinces who supplied the substance to the Zhejiang company were also arrested, but they have yet to be sentenced.

The ministry also reiterated the country's zero-tolerance policy toward the illegal production and use of ODS and said violations will be severely punished.

CYBERSECURITY RULE TO TAKE EFFECT JUNE 1

China's new regulation on a cybersecurity review system, which aims to promote an orderly, secure and open cyberspace and safeguard national security, will take effect on June 1, according to the country's top internet regulator.

The new document, entitled cybersecurity review measures, reiterated the cybersecurity compliance obligations imposed under the Cybersecurity Law, showing the government's ongoing commitment to safeguarding national security and ensuring the safety of supply chains in relation to critical information infrastructure, experts said.

They said the implementation of the review system will help eliminate potential cybersecurity risks, ensure public safety and national cyberspace as well as promote the healthy and orderly development of the information industry.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, together with 11 other departments, released the document on Monday, which may potentially affect both domestic and overseas suppliers who provide information and network products and services to strategic industries such as telecom, radio and television, energy, finance, road and water transportation, railways and civil aviation.

According to the regulation, critical information infrastructure operators who seek to procure network products and services−if such products and services may affect national security−must undergo a national security review.

The regulation said that these operators must assess the potential cybersecurity risks in connection to such products and services and must report to the cybersecurity review office to apply for a cybersecurity review if risks−such as an illegal control and damage of key information infrastructure and the leak, loss and damage of key data−are identified.

"Previously, the biggest cybersecurity challenge was personal privacy. However, today the emerging internet technologies have served a wide range of industries, especially some key sectors closely related to the national economy and social development," said Qiao Siyuan, senior director of the strategic management division at Chinese security company Qi An Xin Group.

The information from the cyberspace administration also highlighted the importance of safeguarding the security of key sectors. "The purpose of building a cybersecurity review system is to detect and avoid risks where the procurement of network products and services may affect national security," the administration said in a statement.

Particularly, the administration noted the government's purpose is to safeguard national cybersecurity instead of imposing restrictions on foreign products and services.

"Opening to the outside world is our basic national policy. Our policies that welcome the entry into our market of foreign products and services remain unchanged," it said.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been. - Henry Kissinger